


Knowing You is a Gift

by flynnXrathbone



Series: Kadara Tales [4]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Developing Relationship, Emotional bonding, Eventual kissing, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-02-05 11:35:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12793704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flynnXrathbone/pseuds/flynnXrathbone
Summary: Ryder and Jaal spend some downtime together on the Nexus and bond. Ryder explains why she likes Kadara.





	1. Chapter 1

“Hey... Jaal?” Ryder knocked at the tech lab door with some trepidation. Inside, she could hear clanking, shuffling, and what sounded like muttered curses in Shelesh.

“Come in!” His deep bass voice rang through the door with an anxious note unfamiliar to Ryder.

“Jaal, what are you doing?” Scraps of brightly colored fabric and metal lay scattered around the room’s various surfaces, along with dozens of odd-looking tools from that he’d clearly brought in his personal effects. 

“I’d like your advice on something. I’m making gifts for everyone—I have a list.” He spoke quickly, pacing the room uneasily and stopping here and there to fiddle with one of his many unfinished projects.

Ryder felt a surge of tenderness for her companion as he launched into an increasingly elaborate catalogue of items he planned to handcraft for each member of the Tempest. “Jaal, this is a lot of work. What’s really going on?”

He sighed, not meeting her gaze, and spoke as though the words pained him. “I’m sure that I seem confident and skilled to you. But I’m not. Or... I don’t feel like I am.”

“Well, I think you’re great,” Ryder smiled. She wanted to wrap her arms around this sweet, funny alien, and hold him tight until his anxiety passed. Did angara hug? She realized she’d never asked.

“That’s... so...” he stammered.

“It’s true!”

Jaal cleared his throat. “You’re... making me blush.”

“I can’t tell,” Ryder teased.

Jaal smiled thinly, still clearly troubled. There wasn’t much she could do about a lifetime’s worth of family insecurities, Ryder knew from painful experience, but she could at least follow through on her reason for coming.

“Anyway, I just stopped by to, um. To ask you something. Maybe we could... spend some time together once we dock at the Nexus? Relax a little?”

Jaal beamed. “I would like that very much.”

——————

The Nexus “gym” was a paltry affair, nothing like the state-of-the-art facilities Ryder had grown up with on the Citadel. A lone bench press sat at the center of a disused closet of a room, ringed with a meager assortment of weights to add to the bar.

“I guess we could take turns spotting each other,” Ryder shrugged to her companion. “I mean: do angara even lift?”

Jaal chuckled. “I assure you that we do. I will be surprised if you can match me.”

“Trash talking already? Oh, this is gonna be fun.”

They settled in at the weight station, falling into an easy rhythm of conversation as they did.

“So, Jaal: spit it out. Why do you hate Kadara so much?”

He grunted as he hoisted the bar above his head. “What is there to like? Foul-smelling, dry, full of the worst excesses of the spirit. I profess myself shocked that someone like you could tolerate such a place, much less enjoy it.”

“Someone like me?” Ryder teased. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She swore the purple in his cheeks deepened slightly as he replied. “You must know by now that I find your compassion and kind nature beautiful. As much so as your face.”

Her stomach fluttered, and she was unable to suppress a giggle. “I—thank you, Jaal. That’s very sweet.”

“You have not yet told me, though—what is there to enjoy about that wretched place?” He set the bar back in place, wiping down the bench with one towel and dabbing his face and arms with another. Ryder swallowed and tried not to stare at the toned muscles on his back, rippling under the sweaty sheen of his skin. “Your turn.”

She positioned herself on the bench and began her final set of reps. “I guess if I had to say, it reminds me of my mom. And my brother. Back in the Milky Way—a vacation we took once.”

“You don’t often talk about her,” Jaal replied. “It must be a very special memory.”

Ryder could feel a couple tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She took a deep breath and flexed her arms, straining against the weight of the bar, before replying. “We didn’t get to spend much time together once Scott and I were old enough to enter training. This was the last real vacation we got to take together, before she got sick.”

“I will not pry, if it is too painful to discuss,” Jaal said gently.

“No,” Ryder replied, teeth clenching and sweat beading on her forehead. “I never get the chance to talk about her. I’d like to.”

She finished the set, and Jaal stretched out his hand to help her up. She grasped it, admiring the strength of his grip, and feeling just a little dizzy as she regained her feet. Before she could stumble too far, he’d caught her against his chest, and she found herself gazing up into his stormy blue eyes. 

“You need nourishment,” he pronounced decisively, and guided her towards a Nexus food kiosk with one glistening arm wrapped firmly around her waist. Ryder inhaled slowly, savoring the heady smell of his sweat and the humming warmth of his body. What was in angaran pheromones? she wondered, feeling almost drunk with the sensations.

When they were comfortably seated, each sipping from a tumbler of electrolyte-enhanced beverage, Ryder resumed. “It was the year we turned 19, Scott and I, and Mom made us promise to request leave for the same two weeks. We’d only been to Earth a couple times, to see our grandparents before they died, and she thought we needed to know where we came from in the universe.”

“A worthy goal,” Jaal nodded. “We angara try to do the same.”

“Anyway, she took us to a place called Yellowstone—a park, where people aren’t allowed to live so that they can see the natural, unspoiled beauty of the land when they visit. Do you have things like that on Aya?”

“Is it a holy place? Or a site of great importance to your ancestors?” Jaal asked, furrowing his brow. When Ryder shook her head, he replied, “Then no, I do not believe we do. I am not sure I fully understand.”

“It’s like...” Ryder paused, considering. “It’s like the Vesaal, except without the part where people actually live there. Think about Aya: what would happen to the environment if there were no restrictions on entry?”

Jaal nodded slowly. “I believe I see what you mean. But no humans at all! Are your people so bad at managing resources as to necessitate this drastic measure?”

Ryder laughed wryly. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, what with interspecies diplomacy and all. But no, humans didn’t always live in harmony with their environments back on Earth. More than a century before I was born, some areas were in crisis. It was one of the factors that first pushed us towards interstellar exploration.”

“You are right,” Jaal said seriously. “I would not mention this to Evfra. Already he is distrustful of your methods and motives.”

“We’ve gotten better as a species,” Ryder protested. “The combined knowledge of the turians, salarians, and asari did a lot to convince us that we needed to change.”

“Still, I do not think the time is right to explain these nuances to my people,” Jaal replied. “But enough. You were telling me about your family, and stones that are yellow.”

“Yellowstone,” Ryder laughed. “They’re not—it’s not that the rocks are painted, it’s just the name of the park. Area.”

“So what is this park like? Sulfurous and dry, like Kadara?”

“You’re such a buzzkill,” Ryder snorted, playfully swatting his bicep. “C’mon, I’ll show you.”


	2. Chapter 2

At the door to her room, Ryder stopped abruptly, and Jaal nearly walked into her. She laughed nervously, averting her eyes, and he looked down at her with concern. “Is something wrong?” 

“Nope! No, not a thing. Totally fine. Peachy.” The sound of her voice was squeaky and unnatural, and her palms felt clammy. Was she ready to do this? Steadying her hand, she took a deep breath and tapped on her omnitool. The door slid open easily, and they stepped inside together. 

“You wanted to see Yellowstone,” Ryder said. She led him towards her bed, and patted the covers. Jaal sat beside her, eyes intent and curious. She gestured to the wall above the bed, inadvertently brushing his arm as she did so and shivering. 

A medium-sized watercolor landscape hung there, framed and encased in glass. It showed terraced limestone in dazzling white and burnt orange, forming dozens of steaming pools, and blasted, leafless trees stretching their limbs toward an impossibly blue sky. Jaal stepped forward to examine it more closely, reading, “Ellen Ryder, 2182. Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone, Wyoming.” He turned in surprise. “Your mother painted this?”

Ryder nodded, blinking back tears. “The last day of our trip. This—this is all I have left of her.” She dug her knuckles into her eyes. She could feel Jaal finding his seat again, a warm, comforting presence at her side. 

“Would you like me to go?”

She shook her head, grinning up at her friend. “No, I’m ok. It’s... actually really nice to remember. We camped there for a week and a half, just me and Scott and Mom. Cooking over an open fire, sleeping under the stars. Here—“

She fiddled with the settings on her omnitool, found the file she was looking for, and pressed enter. A life-sized family photo projected itself onto the wall from the device on her wrist. “Here we are on the boardwalk above the springs. Mom said she didn’t have any good photos of us all grown up.”

Jaal smiled. “A wonderful memory. What did you do there for a week and a half?”

“We hiked the trails, saw geysers and waterfalls. Sketched bison and moose and coyotes. Studied birds and plants.”

“You sketch?” Jaal exclaimed in delight. “I would love to see your work.”

Ryder nodded happily. “Mom was an amateur naturalist. It didn’t really have anything to do with her research, she just always liked to record what she saw. Guess it rubbed off on us. Me.” She scrolled intently through her device, and the image switched to a journal page, covered in sketches of flora and fauna with descriptive notes.

Jaal murmured appreciatively, his eyes alight. “You have many talents,” he said, turning to meet her gaze. “Each time I think I know you, you surprise me again.”

Ryder blushed. “And... you like that? Being surprised?”

“Very much so.” His low rumble sent a thrill of anticipation up her spine. Much to her disappointment, he stood to go. “I must leave you for now. But would you mind sharing those photos with me?”

——————

Ryder slept comfortably that night for the first time in weeks. She couldn’t remember her dreams when she woke, just a general feeling of pleasant warmth and anticipation. She hummed softly as she dressed and prepared for the day.

There was a knock at her door, and a familiar voice, deep and mellow. “Ryder?”

She opened the door to find Jaal standing there expectantly, holding a roll of paper behind his back. Her stomach twisted pleasantly, and she could feel blood rushing to her cheeks. “It’s nice to see you,” she said, feeling like her heart would beat through her chest. “What’s up?”

“After our conversation yesterday, I figured out what your gift should be,” he said shyly, pressing the roll into Ryder’s hands. 

Slowly, she unfurled it. Dark, flowing strokes of charcoal covered the page, forming an unmistakeable image: she and Scott flanking their mother, squinting and grinning, from the scenic overlook above Mammoth Hot Springs.

Ryder cradled the drawing tenderly, her eyes glistening. It took her a moment to find the right words. “It’s perfect, Jaal. But... I don’t have anything to give you.”

“You already did,” he replied softly. “You shared a part of your soul with me. I could not ask for more.”

Setting the drawing carefully on her desk, Ryder grasped Jaal’s hand in hers. A soft current of electricity ran between them as she gazed into his eyes. She reached up, fondly tracing the line of his cheekbone with her thumb and cupping his cheek. “I’d... like to kiss you, if that’s ok.”

He stepped closer, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to his chest. She stood on tiptoes, gently guiding his face down towards her own. His lips were soft and warm, and she sighed as she met them. Kissing Jaal sent electric ripples of pleasure coursing through her entire body. They moved together, their lips searing each other’s skin and their hearts beating in time. Finally she pulled back, flushed, breathing hard, and let her forehead sink onto his chest, the scent of his body surrounding her, his arms still twined around her shoulders and waist.

“Darling one,” he whispered, his voice husky. “My dearest Ryder. Knowing you is a gift, truly.”


End file.
